wow that is a gorgeous plant indeed! I honestly dont know what to tell you with this plant. It is huge and without a way to dry it out I am just not sure. I would definitly cut off everything that is rotten clean down to good flesh like mara said..get all the rotted branches off of it to try to stop the spread of the rot. If the caudex also has rot then I would scoop an scrape off all you can. I know its really big but you can cut back the roots and all if need be, I would still dig it up and let it dry. cut back all the top if need be and dig that plant out.
Adeniums are so hard they can take a LOT of abuse and cutting and still come back. That is all I can think to tell you.

Maybe spraying it with a fungicide right now would be good or dusting in sulfhur or cinnamon. I do not know about excess moisture problems. rain is a vague memory. Ecsess rain happened sometime BC. RR,I KNOW it is a succulent , missey, just not my brand of succulent. LOL

From the rotten branches I took out I got some from the top that were still good with no signs of brown inside to try to replant them hoping that some will grow roots….what do you think?
At the same time this plant has the first seed pod in 10 years, at least is the first one I see. The seed pod is on the healthier side of the tree so I am hoping that this doesn't affect the seed pod as it hasn't opened up yet. It has been there for about a month and I was told they take between 2 to 3 months to open so I can collect the seeds.
Was also thinking on maybe digging up like a trench all around the caudex will probably help the soil to dry out faster and then cover again in a few days, what do you think? It hasn’t rain now in 2 days and I don‘t think will rain any time soon, we are in Miami so temperature here tends to be very warm even in winter.
I know for sure I have to trim a lot more; it’s a shame after seeing how beautiful it gets in summer.

Just a follow up....We dig around the caudex to try to get it out off the dirt as much as we could but as you can see on these images, it is a BIG ONE !!!
We filled in the hole with bricks and rocks to dirt doesn't get back in again, we also put some perlites (white stuff) to help it out too. Look at the bricks we placed around the caudex after digging the dirt out so you can compare it to the roots...after all this we dusted some fungicide. I hope this will help the tree survive.

This image shows how branches were inside once we removed them

Seed Pod covered, I has been like that for about 1˝ month, I hope it opens up soon

Here are 2 branches I just replanted from the ones we removed that were rotten, these ones were nice and green inside so I hope they grow roots.

I am just truly amazed by this beautiful uhhh tree. I so wish you and it all the luck and blessings. I'm sure in your climate it is probably common for these plants to get so big naturally but here all I can do is drool over your pictures. Please keep us posted as your babies and "The Mother Lode" progress.

Yes, neighbors say that previous owner bought the plant about 20 years ago and back then was about 3' tall but never had any flowers so when we moved in on 2001 it was maybe a little smaller but not that much and started having these amazing flowers specially in summer. Here is South Florida is always hot and during winter we get only a few days of cold but that's about it.
This picture was taken about 10 months ago.

If I was planting one of these in the ground in Florida or hawaii where it does rain , I would think about raising the caudex out of the ground. For looks and for rot reason. You obviously are doing a good job and it looks like itis one of the family and loves you as much as the boys. I think it will forgive you for cutting on it.

Yes, I did blurred their faces for safety reason, I don't like my kids face on the internet, you never know what people can do with kids pictures so is better to be safe than sorry.
When I moved into the house (10 years ago) the plant was already there but it was a little smaller... it wasn't my choice to plant it there…. it’s just an odd spot where the previous owner decided to plant it. Anyways, even if the street floods the flooding has never reached the tree so I guess the constant rain non stop for 5 days straight made some impact on a section of the roots which is what we removed and from the same branches towards the top I cut out the parts that were still good and replanted them to see if they grow roots so if they do it will be a great Mother’s day present for my mom next year….she has been dying to get a plant like this one
Something that also has been good for this plant is that our neighborhood soil has about 90% sand; whenever we dig to plant anything all we find is sand…I guess that has been keeping the plant healthy too. I never water the plant at all or feed any kind of fertilizer but when it blooms during dry and hot season everyone has to stop to look at it which by the way, when it blooms all you see are flowers...leaves fall off...is like a pink Christmas tree in summer.
Now for the first time the plant has a seed pod, at least is the first one I see…can’t wait to the pod opens up to plant the seeds, I have a big line of friends that want seeds…LOL…free seeds !!!
Thanks everyone, I’ll keep posting updates as the plant progress as well as the replanted branches and seeds

Bringing this thread back to the top....

Ok Everyone...

First of all... Howdy!!

Now I got that out of the way... I have actually been a member of the site for a little over a year. Been lurking before that. Not even sure if I have posted or not.... but I do have a question or two.

I do have one of these plants that I have in a pot. Have had it over 10 years now and when I lived in an apartment I had it sitting by sliding glass double doors and it got plenty of sun and would move it outside on my balcony in the spring/summer/fall and it did really well. Even got it to bloom regularly.

But lately... have moved a couple times and this plant has been neglected quite a bit. Luckily it does fairly well on the dry side as far as watering goes. But the status is this... it is about 3 foot tall and VERY leggy. Unfortunately is has been in spots where it does not get a lot of good light. I am living with my brother now and I have moved it over in front of some double doors that have some plastic over them to help keep out the cold. By the way... probably should have mentioned that I do live in Michigan. I got this plant down in the Florida Keys probably about 15 years ago when I was down there. I am going to move the plant out on the balcony once the warmer weather in spring rolls around. I will get plenty of sun in the morning and will be in shade in the afternoon as the balcony is on the "backside" of the house in the afternoon.

So... the questions are these...

When is the best time of year to prune the desert rose? I am going to absolutely hate doing this... but I see it is best for the plant that do it. I should probably also re-pot it too and I have read thru this thread on how to do that. I might even try to make a plant or two out of the cuttings when I do prune it.

I do have an older digital camera and have to get a USB card reader for my computer so I can upload photos... but when I do... I will post photos and hopefully show the progress from before and after photos.